"Work." He took a large gulp of his milk, then stuffed the rest of his dinner into his mouth.

"I thought she was supposed to be off tonight?" I was bummed. We had made plans to pop some popcorn, and her, Haley and I watch a movie together. My brother shrugged as he stood. He had gotten so tall, his body beginning to fill out from the lanky, scrawniness of a boy to the muscular, filled out, hairy body of a man. Almost overnight.

"That sucks." Haley muttered, heaving her heavy bag further up her shoulder. Haley and my mom were almost closer than my mom and I were. I was glad that they got along so well, though. If Haley was going to be here so often, it certainly made things easier.

"See you later, freak." Chris put his dishes in the dishwasher, and hurried out of the room.

"Where are you going in this weather, Chris?" He stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"You must be kidding me if you think I want to spend the weekend with you guys. I’ll be at Brian’s." He hurried, noisily, up the stairs just as I head a car honk outside.

"Good. Get rid of him. Pain in the ass." I turned to Haley. "Well, want to try and find a good movie on, anyway?" She smiled and nodded.

"Yep."

* * *

The movie was coming to a close and Haley leaned against me, silently crying as her eyes were riveted to the screen. I wasn’t quite crying, as I was doing my damndest to hold it in. Robin was going to die soon, Holly finally getting out of jail and her and Abe getting married. Jane took care of Robin as she got more sick, the AIDS finally taking over.

As the movie came to an end, Jane finally deciding to go on to California after Robin’s death, Haley clung to me, her entire body shaking with her sobs, the bag of popcorn long forgotten.

I caressed her hair, not saying anything as my own tears welled up in my eyes. God, what a touching movie. ‘Boys On the Side’, who would have thought?

"She really loved her all along, didn’t she?" Haley hiccupped, pulling away to look at me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so." I brushed some damp hair away from her eyes, smiled gently at her. "That movie really got to you, didn’t it?" She nodded, burrowing her face into my chest.

"I’ve never really liked Whoopie Goldberg until this movie," she mumbled, wrapped her arms tighter around me.

"Yeah." I stared at the screen as Melissa Etheridge sang ‘I’ll Take You With Me’ during the credits. I had never heard that song before, but then, I had only heard a few of hers.

"Oh, that was just so sad." She sat up, scrubbing at her eyes and nose with the cuff of her sweatshirt sleeve, then turned to me, all puffy-eyed. She was so adorable. "Can we bake?"

The smile froze on my face as I tried to compute the total change in subject. "Huh?"

"Baking. I really feel the need to bake." She rubbed her hands together, those ever-present wheels turning at full speed.

"Sure. I imagine we have a cake mix or something around here. Come on." I stood, figuring Haley would follow suit. I looked at her to see what the problem was.

"Robin will never be able to bake again." She looked up at me, her blue eyes almost electric, and certainly vibrant, from the crying.

"Aww," I reached down and grabbed her, pulling her up to her feet to take her into a hug. "It’s just a movie, Haley."

"I know." Sniff, sniff. "But somewhere out there, there really is a Robin."

"God, you’re adorable."

"Really?"

"Huh?" I stopped. Oh, shit. Had I said that out loud? "Well, I mean, you know, how literally you’re taking the movie, and stuff." She pulled away from me, a bright smile on her face.

"Thanks."

"Sure. Baking?"

I glanced out the window next to the door as we made our way to the kitchen.

"Holy shit! Look at this, Haley." She came up beside me.

"Whoa." In the two hours we’d been downstairs, at least one and a half feet of snow had fallen, and it was still coming down. We looked at each other, then without a word, headed to the kitchen.

I looked through the cabinets, praying that there would be some sort of baking thing in there. I really didn’t want to try and start something from scratch.

"How about this?" I turned to see Haley kneeling in front of the Lazy Susan, reading the back of a Betty Crocker cake. Bingo!

"Great. What will we need?"

"Um," she turned the box over in her hand. "Looks like just three eggs, a cup and a third of water, and a half cup of vegetable oil."

"Check, check, and check. Let’s do it."

We worked together, getting all the ingredients we’d need, and a bowl, spoon, and measuring cups. I measured everything out as Haley stirred it all in. She stared into the mix, looking thoughtful.

"Do you think that Robin was gay all along?" She looked at me.

"From the movie?" She nodded, putting some muscle into her stirring as I had everything in that needed to be. "Well, I don’t know." I thought as I threw the egg shells into the trash, wiping my hands on my sweats. "I guess so. Maybe just a love, instead of a sexual thing, you know?"

"So, you don’t think had things been different that she and Jane would have slept together." I shook my head.

"No, not really."

"Hmm."

"What about you?" Haley put her spoon down, and grabbed the can of Pam spray to grease the cake pan. "I’m not sure. I don’t really see them together in that way, either, but I don’t see anything wrong with it." Pan generously greased, just as the box instructed, she poured the mixed batter into it, and then carried it over to the oven as I hopped up onto the counter and watched. I was surprised by the addition to the conversation, but went with it.

"Neither do I. I mean, when that miniature golf chick was flirting with Whoopie Goldberg’s character, it didn’t bother me at all. I mean, go Jane." Haley hopped up on the counter next to the stove, and smiled at me.

"No kidding. I really liked Jane, but Robin, I thought she was really interesting. I think she would have driven me nuts, all her little quirks, but she was cool. Pretty, too. Who played her?"

"Mary-Louise Parker."

"And how do you know that?" Haley cocked her head to the side, a smile on her face. I shrugged. "I thought you don’t really follow movies that much?"

"I don’t, but I’ve liked her since I saw her in ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’."

"So that’s where I’ve seen her. Huh. I wondered." She grabbed the spoon from the mixing bowl, began to lick the batter off it. I watched, nearly drooling. I loved raw cake batter. Just like cookie dough. Yum. "Want some?" I nodded, she smiled. "Come and get it."

I hopped off the counter, my eyes on the spoon the entire time, watching as Haley’s tongue came out of her mouth, licking the tip of it until the metal was clean and shiny.

"Here." She drug her finger along the inside of the bowl until her entire index finger was covered in the batter. She held her hand out to me. I just stared at it, not sure what to do. "Come on, my finger is clean, really." But my thoughts weren’t.

I leaned in, and tentatively poked my tongue out, touching the very tip to the tip of Haley’s finger. She was grinning at me.

"It won’t bite, there, stud." I pulled away, glaring up at her. "Come on, you know you want it." I looked into her eyes that were narrowed, challenging. What are you doing, Haley? I took a step closer, my eyes still on hers. I felt the need to meet the challenge, even though I’m sure it was only me who was playing the game.

I opened my mouth and wrapped my lips around the offered finger, running my tongue up the full length, gathering the sweet, rich batter as it went. I took it slow, sure to get every single bit. Haley watched me, her eyes darting to my mouth, back to my eyes, and then back to her newly cleaned finger.

"Well, I guess you did want some."

* * *

We laid in the dark, the electric blanket on nearly high as it seemed the snow was seeping through every single nook and cranny. Well, the cold, anyway. I was tremendously glad to have Haley’s body heat next to me; I basked in it.

As I stared up into the dark ceiling, pulling the covers up closer around my chin.

"What would you do for a million dollars?" I asked, turning to look at where I knew Haley was laying. I heard her yawn quietly.

"Hmm. Let me think." She paused. "I’d blow the president."

"Haley!" She chuckled, reaching over under the covers to slap my leg.

"I’m only kidding. I guess I’d run naked through New York City."

"Really?" I turned so I was facing her, holding myself up on my elbow.

"Well, I guess I’d have to give that one more thought. I mean, a million bucks would certainly be nice, but, you know."

"Where would you stop?"

"I wouldn’t do anything that cost me or my family their dignity. You know? I wouldn’t sleep with anyone, or anything."

"So I take it any likelihood of a future career as a high-priced hooker is out, huh?" I asked, grinning.

"Why? Looking for some fun, big boy?" I could feel her eyes on me, though I couldn’t see any part of her. I had closed my blinds and curtains on the windows to keep as much cold out as possible.

"Ha ha." I could hear her low chuckle. "So you wouldn’t even kiss someone for that much money?"

"No. You?"

"Oh, God, no. I think it would take a lot more than money to make me kiss anyone after my experience."

"Did he hurt you, Andi? I mean, it was consensual, right?"

"Oh, yeah. He may have been a jerk, but he wasn’t a rapist."